India’s first underground Metro rail in Kolkata is likely to get another route extension as Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has shown interest for a new 7 km link after much persuasion from the CPI(M).
The proposed link will join the metro rail’s northern terminal station Dumdum with Dakhineshwar at the banks of river Hoogly. Last Friday, at a meeting at the Rail Bhawan here, Prasad asked the Railway Board to go ahead with the plan. Railway Board Chairman K C Jena has ordered a feasibility study for the project.
The work on the extension of the southern part of the Kolkata Metro is on, while a new east-west line was approved by the Union cabinet recently. The proposed extension in the north will serve as a nodal point for many passengers from the neighbouring district.
The total cost of the proposed extension will be Rs 526 crore. The state government has already expressed its willingness to bear 50 per cent of this cost. “We are expecting a formal announcement during the supplementary budget in the coming Parliament session in December,” says Basudeb Acharia, chairman of the Parliamentary standing committee on the railways.
The Union cabinet recently approved an underwater link on the east-west route of the Kolkata Metro to help passengers from the neighbouring district of Howrah to avail metro rail facilities.
